Ariel First to Provide High-Density CompactPCI Remote Access For Red Hat Linux 6.0; Brings 60 Ports of V.34, 56K, and ISDN Remote Access to CompactPCI Systems Running Red Hat Hat Linux 6.0.

CRANBURY, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 23, 1999--

Ariel Corporation (NASDAQ:ADSP) today announced support for Red Hat Linux 6.0 on its CompactPCI-based RS2000C remote access card.

Together, Linux-based operating systems and Ariel's RS2000C give OEMs targeting large enterprises, ISPs, LECs and CLECs an industrial strength solution for building rugged, low-cost, high-availability, scaleable remote access systems utilizing industry standard hardware and software platforms.

"CompactPCI has already emerged as the preferred open platform for OEMs building telco-quality systems," said Dennis Schneider, senior vice president of worldwide marketing at Ariel. "And Linux is rapidly establishing itself as the preferred operating environment for OEMs who place a premium on high availability and low cost. With the RS2000C, OEMs can now build scaleable, flexible, high-density CompactPCI/Linux remote access systems for a fraction of the cost of traditional closed box systems."

"Deregulation has made the service provider business extremely competitive, placing a premium on time to market," added Brad Baldwin, an analyst at IDC. "We expect open systems technologies like CompactPCI and Linux, together with off-the-shelf RAS products like the RS2000C, to be extremely attractive to OEMs who are looking for a cost-effective way to deploy new remote access systems that can be quickly upgraded to support new services and large numbers of subscribers."

The RS2000C gives Linux servers the physical connections needed for remote dial-in and LAN dial-out. Combining 30 Lucent Technologies (NYSE:LU) V.90 56-kbps modems with a dual T1/E1/PRI interface, the RS2000C supports up to 60 simultaneous remote access sessions originating from digital 64-kbps basic rate ISDN, analog 56-kbps and 33.6-kbps customer premises equipment.

The RS2000C is fully scaleable, utilizing a rack-mountable design that makes it easy for OEMs to build inexpensive, high-capacity remote access servers that occupy minimal space. A standard cPCI chassis fully populated with 10 RS2000Cs can accommodate up to 20 T1/E1/PRI lines, enough to support 600 simultaneous remote access sessions. A standard six-foot rack containing eight cPCI chassis, each fully populated with 10 RS2000Cs, can handle 160 T1/E1/PRI lines, enough to support 4800 remote access sessions.

"With Ariel, we can offer telco-quality, high-density remote access to our customers," remarked Paul McNamara, vice president of business development at Red Hat Software. "Ariel's CompactPCI-based remote access products are ideal for building scaleable, high-availability remote access systems for a variety of ISP, LEC, and CLEC applications requiring telco quality."

The RS2000C meets all U.S. and Canadian safety and RFI/EMI standards, including FCC part 15 Class A, FCC part 68, UL 1950, CSA C22.2 No. 950, and IEC-003 Class A. The RS2000C is also CE Marked for sales to European Union countries.

An RS2000C OEM Starter Kit, which includes a RS2000C board, Linux driver and source code, Windows NT driver, and a Driver Development Kit, starts at $8795 and is available immediately. Ariel is currently running a 25% off promotion on RS2000C OEM Starter Kits through the end of August. Red Hat Linux 6.0 is available free of charge from Red Hat Software. Red Hat Linux 6.0 for the RS2000C is currently in beta test. Production availability of the RS2000C with Red Hat Linux 6.0 is expected this Fall.

More on Ariel

Ariel Corporation (NASDAQ:ADSP) is leading provider of high-density remote access plug-in cards for applications such as Internet access, corporate Intranet/Extranet access, on-line services, telecommuting, transaction processing, and unified messaging. Ariel's remote access products make it easy for OEMs and system integrators targeting ISPs, corporate enterprises and other service providers to add high-density remote access to open systems platforms running a variety of popular operating systems, including Windows NT and Linux.

Ariel's high-density remote access cards provide V.34, V.90-compatible 56K, and basic rate ISDN remote dial-in, LAN dial-out, and Internet back-haul. Available in ISA, PCI and CompactPCI formats, the cards connect to T1, E1, ISDN, and POTS lines. Ariel's remote access products run Windows NT and Linux out of the box. An SDK is available for OEMs who want to use Ariel's remote access products with other operating systems.

For more information on Ariel products, please contact Ariel Corporation at 2540 Route 130, Cranbury, N.J. 08512. Phone [phone]. Fax [phone]. Email: [e-mail]. World Wide Web: www.ariel.com.

RS2000C and Ariel are trademarks of Ariel Corporation. LINUX is a trademark of Linus Torvalds. RED HAT is a registered trademark of Red Hat Software, Inc.